A Silent Tear
by iceytina
Summary: Maria moves to Lumberopolis with her mother and stumbles across a strange hedgehog named Damaris. She starts to love him but he's hiding a huge secret. [INCOMPLETE]
1. Default Chapter

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**: Yo, waddup? This is a story all about MARIA ANASTASIA (a Greek name meaning Resurrection) and a new hedgehog character that I made up called Damaris, meaning Gentle, which is a GREEK name., and how they fall in love but Maria is human and Damaris is a hedgehog! http: had to exclude a LARGE portion of the notes here because that would ruin the story and I just CAN'T do that! I have the whole plot, in detail, written out for MY benefit-not for you though! So, knowing that, you can imagine that this page of stats is really a lot longer. Mwuha! 1224 words on this version, while the other story stats page has 2611!

PS: Just out of curiosity, I looked up the word MARIA on that website and it has four origins: Hebrew, German, Spanish, and French- and it all means the same thing with all four of those languages: BITTER! Strange, no?

**STORY TITLE**: A Silent Tear

**SETTING**:  
Lumberopolis: downtown by the river  
Season: summer, hot, humid  
Living quarters: townhouse near the river

**CHARACTERS**:  
(main) Maria (Robotnik) (16 years old, human; name means bitter)  
(main) Damaris (GREEK: gentle) Doy (CELTIC: dark stranger) (17 years old, hedgehog)  
(other) Maria's mother Carmen (36 years old; name means guard)  
(submain) GUN agents and soldiers

**SONGS USED**:  
Michael W. Smith – I Will Carry You  
Michael W. Smith - Freedom  
Michelle Tumes – Deep Love  
Michelle Tumes – Love Shines Through  
Michelle Tumes – Missing You  
Michelle Tumes – With the Angels  
True Vibe – Love is Calling  
VEnna – Why Did I Let You Go?  
VEnna - Sometimes  
ZoeGirl - Little Did I Know  
Jump5 – Just A Dream

**CHARACTER TRAITS**:  
DAMARIS: cautious; spunky; loud sometimes; hyper; paranoid; confused when confronted; nervous when people stare at him; doesn't like to talk much, only when necessary; he loves feeling the G's and velocity of the air when he jumps from building to building in the city via usage of his Turbo Jump Boots built into his shoes; Damaris is cautious when it comes to places and things he doesn't know and often recoils when someone mentions GUN. He loves video games, arcade games, board games, card games, and computer games and could play them all day long and his favorite drink is a Lemon Cherry Smoothie topped with cherries on the foam.  
_ FAULTS_: he climbs into Maria's room at night too often; has a tendency to forget about danger when arcades are near; eats peanut butter and jelly sandwiches almost every day; clumsily knocks objects over when playing with his yo-yo;  
MARIA: sweet; good-natured; loving; thoughtful; helpful; mature most of the time; all the same traits from past cartoons and games but some new ones since she's grown more than the games portray; Maria falls into depression at times because she needs someone to be there for her and no one is when she needs them most  
_ FAULTS_: freezes when in danger; cries to often

**PLOT**: Maria Anastasia (Robotnik) is a teenager without a father, a teenager who has no real reason to live for than for Shadow and her mother. Her father died on an important mission for the president, leaving her a half orphan, and so her mother decided to move to the Mediterranean city of Lumberopolis with its towering oak trees and quaint cities. Maria tries to make friends at school but everyone treats here ruthlessly and she withdraws into herself after the brutal treatment, wishing for a better life. After a month of living in that horrible place, Maria trips over a slumbering, mint green hedgehog in the park and finds out that his name is Damaris. They become friends but Damaris often disappears at strange times for unknown reasons. Maria searches into her heart and finds out that she's falling in love with him, but thinks she cannot love another species that way and so denies her love to him and to herself, artificially maintaining a hyper and happy lifestyle. Can she ever understand that what body you live in isn't who you are, but rather the heart and can she find out what's wrong with Damaris, why he vanished often, and comes back in strange conditions?

**OTHER INFO**: The timeframe is almost four years after the defeat of Metal Arnus. Shadow is now married to Amy and they have a two year-old hedgehog daughter named Suger. Shadow periodically visits Maria but those visits are scarcer now that he has a family to care for and more responsibilities.

**THE DETAILS**:  
**Damaris** is a GUN experiment. From his birth, his parents were murdered by the GUN agents and he was taken as a victim of DNA alteration and experimentation. Being expendable, no one truly cared if he lived or died. They tested him with human DNA as well as all sorts of animal DNA. He's a regular hedgehog, and because all projects were defective, no harm came to him, but the reasons why he runs off a lot of the times is because he's being tracked and can't let GUN get their slimy claws on him. He's on the run.

**Maria Anastasia** is the re-born granddaughter of Professor Gerald Robotnik. She regained her memories after Shadow helped her by explaining the circumstances between him and her. She is the only one who knows who she is and hasn't even told anyone before. When she moves to Lumberopolis, the students at her new school treat her with a cruel alienation because of the rumors they've received about her father and Shadow. They look upon her as a freak, someone who hides deep, morbid secrets from the world. Angry, Maria quickly adjusts her life to a comfortable hole of ignoring everyone at her school and studying, achieving high grades, and finding hobbies to enjoy by herself. She writes in a diary, writes poetry, and fan fics to post online. One day as Maria was walking through the park in early summer, she trips over a sleeping, curled up figure by a bench, which ends up being a dark, faded green hedgehog named Damaris. They become friends.

**Carmen Anastasia** is n overprotective and annoying mother but truly means well for her daughter and, as all mother's will claim, her overbearing strict rules and hawk eyes on her daughter are for her benefit and protection. Carmen doesn't mind when her daughter comes home one day with a green hedgehog; she doesn't think any of it when they run off together to go places such a roller-skating or to flee markets; and she doesn't bother to worry over the few evenings the two return late, but she does worry when Maria starts to fall into depression when Damaris disappears for weeks.

**GUN soldiers** are many and stupid at their jobs but **GUN agents** are sharp and harsh and heartless and they'll stop at nothing to track down Host 767 (Damaris) and bring him back to the main lab. Damaris is the only "host" of an incomplete beta test of human DNA and they can't waste all the billions of research by simply losing him. The two main GUN agents on the case are females who refer to each other as Unit 1 and Unit 2 for confidentiality. Together, they track Damaris down to Lumberopolis and center in on his location, though not without difficulty because Damaris eludes them by running to strange places at strange times and not returning till they're confused.


	2. Chapter One: A Strange Place

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**: Yes, this is the first chapter of the fic! I hope you all don't ask too many questions about it. First chapters are normally confusing if a story is sorta complex. It will all make more sense as each chapter progresses. Please RR but don't be nasty!

Maria and Sonic the hedgehog do not belong to me-none of it does accept Damaris!

**CHAPTER ONE**: A Strange Place

Geez Feebe,

No one seems to know or care that moving might affect me in other ways than just the environment I live in. Am I being the selfish one or are other people more selfish than I am about this whole thing? I still can't believe I have to move so away from my friends and everything I've known for a long time to go to a strange place, full of new, strange people, with new places. Everything new. Mostly everyone feels the way I do when they have to leave that small, familiar circle I guess. I'll bet there's always something different in each situation though. In my situation, I'll be moving away from Shadow and Amy Rose. It won't be hard for him to visit me because he can run as fast as Sonic, but I know he won't see me very often since he has a family now. I was the one who went to see him most of the time. I know he loves me and won't mean to ignore me, but I know him too well to know that he won't see me often when I go away.  
What am I to do? That's only the first of my worries. The reason why Mom's moving us is because we're not doing so financially well. Her job isn't paying as well as she'd hope and she found a better paying job in Lumberopolis. I guess I'm the selfish one for not caring as much as I should whether or not her job pays enough. I just want to stay near the people I love and the shops I like. I don't want to have to worry about making new friends or finding those small shops that no one else knows about. The really cute, fun shops. Sort of like gift shops.

And what is Lumberopolis like? I've never been there in my life. I've seen Casinopolis, Carnivalopolis, Knothole, Metropolis, Jungleopolis, and Ruralopolis, but never Lumberopolis. Shadow told me that it's called that because there's large lumber mills where wood is processed into chips, boards, and other building essentials. He told me that it's known for its large, dark forests around the city and that the cities themselves are small and old-fashioned. I don't like the sound of that. I'm not used to little, old things; I'm a city girl and I need the skyscrapers and technology.

I'll bet my mom will love it there. She's an insurance secretary and will be getting 3.31 dollars more every hour than on her last job. I know I won't like it there. I know I won't like the forests because the dark scares me; I know I won't like the schools if they're not like the ones here; I know I won't like it there period because Shadow won't be there-neither will Amy, Tails, Knuckles, or Sonic… I feel so sad. There won't be anyone there to give me hugs or send me silly cards like my friends here. Ya, I can still email them and write letters, but it's not the same as them actually being there.

You think I'm overreacting, don't you Feebe? Some diary you are! You're supposed to be sympathetic, not a heartless old hag. I am not overreacting! Lumberopolis is at least 100 miles away from Metropolis. It's not that easy just to get up and run back to visit Alane or Maral. Driving takes gas and money and time and I hate traveling. I feel like I'm going to cry over this.  
We move tomorrow morning and everything I know will be left behind here. I feel like the outcast no one wants, the ugly, clumsy, worthless girl that gets in the way and revolts everyone she sees. I know I won't make friends in Lumberopolis. How will I get over this? I am being the selfish one. I know we're moving for Mom because she needs us to have money to pay for bills and other necessities. If only Daddy were still alive.

That was what Maria Anastasia wrote in her diary on May 9, Friday evening, at her desk that sat in front of her window, casting a light around her outline. That was the last night she spent in her lavender, pink-speckled room with pale purple carpet and lively pictures of those she loved hanging around the walls. It was the last night she slept in her warm bed and the last day she was able to weep within the sanctuary of her private room. She wasn't even able to think about the possible next owner of this precious room that she had spent some of her most important growing-up years in. The thought was disgraceful. Anyone else having parties or sleepovers in her room would ruin the past memories of the original owner's existence.

This was the room Shadow had slept in and laughed in with her; this was the room Amy Rose had sung; the room Maria had been able to laugh in at the sight of Shadow laying a lip-smacking kiss on Amy. Sonic had first met her in this very room. Tails and Knuckles were the special ones she had told stories to during the dreary, rainy afternoons to pass the time away. She recalled Cream fastening a pearly necklace around her neck-a necklace the cute bunny had bought for her. Big had dried her tears in this room. Everything important and special had happened here; all those little memories that bring out the person inside had happened here and now she was going to leave it all behind. Would they be forgotten, eaten by moths and dust of the years to come? The thought drove her to tears.

It was nine AM Saturday morning, May 10. Maria stood, silent, in the center of her new bedroom. Empty and lifeless, she tested her voice and it echoed off the vacant walls. This room was slightly larger than the last one she'd had, but the walls were a putrid, bright red and the carpet was maroon. Whoever had lived here last had had horrible taste.

The furniture that was to go in her room was sitting out in the garage for the time being for she wasn't going to allow it in this room until the walls were painted a light lavender with pale pink, bump-mapped paint splatters over the purple just as her old room had looked. That's why she was standing here now, with a bucket of paint near her shoes and a wide brush in the other.

Maria shoved the window up to open it and stared out across the houses down to a wide, long river crowded by boathouses, sailboats, and people swimming. There was no beach to this river like the one outside Shadow and Amy's house in Metropolis. This river had sharp, cruel rocks with no soothing sand. She glared at it in disgust then turned away, plunging the paintbrush into the bucket and slapping wild, immature lines of paint over the red paint.

**-MICHELLE TUMES: MISSING YOU-**

_Shadow, please don't forget me. Don't forget me Amy, Tails, Knuckles, Sonic. Don't forget how I love you and think of you constantly. I'd read your notes right now, but I can't. I'm too busy. _The notes she spoke of were farewell love letters from each of the team. They had given the papers to Shadow, who had stuck them all in a fat envelope, and given them to Maria on her move out. She would always remember his sad eyes, the way his hand had slid over hers, how he had spoke, so softly, so slowly, the way he had clung to the side of the car, unwilling to let the seconds slide away without confessing some relic to her. He had, hopelessly, let his grip slide when she had whispered 'sayanara, Shadow the Hedgehog' to him. She recalled the loving kiss she had placed on his forehead and then he was nothing but a black speck as they drove away.

"Sayanara…" The word croaked out of her throat, "For now. Please come see me soon." Life was going to be strange for a while now. Maria worried about school coming up the next week. She worried over everything small and large, things frivolous and important but mostly, she worried about acceptance.

Monday morning, May 12. Maria found herself an awkward form among the thick, weaving students of Lumberopolis High school. Metropolis high school's had, by far, been more packed than these schools, but the teenagers she knew there hadn't treated each other in the brutal, rude manner students seemed to treat each other here. As they walked, boys would shove other boys out of their way. Girls were just as worse and to make the whole situation a gaping pit, both genders disrespected each other to the extremes. Girls openly screamed at boys; boys shoved girls. Maria tried to dodge the glances students shoved her way and the alarming physical abuse as she rushed down the hall to the principal's office for her inspection.

She fled inside the small office and closed her eyes heavily.

"Miss Anastasia?" The principal snapped her out of the frightened moment she was in. Maria stepped forward towards what appeared to be a refined individual in this savage building. "I'm Miss Ann Lane. Please, have a seat and I'll make this quick for you so you won't be late for any classes on your first day. It's always wise to make a good impression."

"Yes, thank you." Maria clutched the backpack in her sweaty fingers.

"I just need to know your full name, age, and grade."

"Maria Calista Anastasia. 16. Tenth grade."

Anne clicked her keyboard a few seconds, "Thank you, Maria. You may go to class now. If you have any problems, remember to come see me or one of your teachers." The principal winked, sending shivers down Maria's back. _Certainly a strange woman_, she thought, _to have a job like this in a wolf-pack of wild savages. How in the world did that lady end up here?_

A few minutes later and the halls were mostly empty. Maria sighed, but bravely ventured through the doors into her first class: history. Most of the students rudely met her gaze, the guys smirking flirtatiously. Already, Maria had reasons to groan, which she did so and very loudly. There were thirty desks divided into three rows of ten. At the front of the room sat a wide desk, old and chipped severely. Two shelves guarded the desk, one on the left: full of dictionaries and books; the other one on the right being empty.

Maria shifted forwards and forced her stiff legs to bend as she sat at her desk. Her solitary meditation was soon interrupted. "Hey, what's your name?" The male student in front of her grabbed one of her braids, tugging it hard, a solid grin plastered across his cute, but dark features.

"Maria." She grabbed the long, golden braid from his grimy fingers, "Keep your hands off of me."

"Maria is it? That wouldn't happen to be Maria Anastasia?" He grinned at her sudden suspense, "I'd be careful if I were you. People know about your old man and lots of rumors go around these parts. Watch your back."

There was something cynical in the boy's voice that Maria felt threatened from. Something warned her against holding any form of conversation with him. "Oh, ya? Like what? Anything concerning me or my father is most likely going to be false if started by you all." This was said not with bitterness or anger or spite, but with the normal quiet, soft voice Maria always used. "Please leave me alone."

"Why so scared? I'm not the enemy. I was hoping we could be friends."  
"I-I don't know. We'll have to see." But she doubted any relationship between him, "What's your name anyways?"

"Dillan."

"Please take out your books, class," The teacher broke them off, "We have a new student: Maria Calista Anastasia. Please stand up and say a word about yourself, would you miss Anastasia?"

Immediately, Maria disdained her teacher. He was short, pale, and very skinny-unhealthily so. His mustache poked out in a strange, yet familiar way, forming spikes on each end; his uniform slightly resembled British regimentals. With every move, his hand gestured up and down as if his bones were stiff and he groaned almost with every step. Maria wanted to run from the room, away from him, and away from everyone, but could not.

She rose slowly, "I'm Maria Anastasia, but you already know I guess. My mother and I recently moved here from Metropolis. I've never been here before so I don't know any places around here. I'm 16, and a writer."

"Thank you, Maria," The frail old teacher turned to the board, "Pretty name. Familiar. I would have named my daughter that if I had ever had any." He scratched his back and reached for the chalk, "Today's lesson is…"

_It's sunny out. I wish I was outside_. Maria neither heard nor cared for the lesson that day. Her heart was set on a certain black hedgehog over a hundred miles away and what he could possibly be thinking of at that moment. She envisioned him happy, enjoying the cool beach water, and envied his circumstances. He and Sonic had found similarities between each other and had formed a brother friendship. Tails was currently teaching him advanced mechanical engineering and Knuckles was advising him in boxing. Amy and he were married and celebrating the second birthday of their little girl, Suger. Shadow's life was perfect, why couldn't hers be? It wasn't fair but Maria knew she was pouting and being selfish again.

Uneventfully, the days turned into a week and the week turned into two weeks. Shadow didn't come to visit Maria during the span of the time she had been living in Lumberopolis so far. The weeks became a routine of school, homework, and writing for Maria. She had made no friends, didn't care to anymore, and her hopeful, optimistic personality dissipated under the hopeless, depressed Maria of the present. Mornings: Maria awoke, ate breakfast, and boarded the bus to school. School: the normal procedure of pretending to ignore the rude students and their outrageous rumors concerning her. Afternoon: come home; cry her eyes out, sat at the computer for some writing and poetry and homework. Evenings: eat dinner, walk around the city for an hour, come home and write in her journal, go to bed.

Indeed, although her life was average and gray, her mind was wild and full of colorful thoughts only being able to be spoken through the keyboard and monitor. Everyday, Maria spilled her ideas out on scribbled paper and later typed them all out orderly. It was the only way she kept herself from breaking down.

Currently, the sun was burning directly overhead. The date was May 30-two weeks and one day after the move. Maria found her feet stepping into unfamiliar places she had never explored before. There was so much city left to see and such little time,;but being Saturday, she had to find an escape route and fled into the park. Happy children ran to and fro; dogs barked; people tossed Frisbees; Maria imagined Shadow running down a long stretch of road towards her but when she opened her eyes, he was never there. Just tall maple trees, cement fountains, short, clean grass, blue sky.

"Whoa!" She clumsily tripped over something large-a rock perhaps-but caught her fall with her hands. "What was that?" Turning, she paused: a green hedgehog sat surprised, looking at her. She stopped breathing: his eyes were as violet emeralds; his fur thick and dark hued as a faded mint green; he wore regular white gloves, but also wore two gold rings on his right arm and brown, leather strips at the ends of his spikes. Maria noted the peculiarity of the bottoms of his shoes and the huge metal side screws lining the inner walls of each shoe.

The hedgehog rubbed his ringed eyes and struggled to his feet, "Crud, guess a guy can't ever get any sleep around here."

"I'm sorry. I didn't see you lying there," Maria made haste to get away from him, "I'll leave." She felt stupid in front of this guy and didn't even have a legitimate reason to. Everyone made mistakes.

"No! Wait, what's your name?"

"Oh," She turned back and saw him standing up near the bench, "its Maria."

"Cute name. Can I tag along? I need to buy somethin' to eat in town, I'm starved! Guess you waking me up wasn't so bad after all." He chuckled but she turned away irritated at his ability to laugh at her folly. Maria decided to venture leftward but saw the motion of a greenish figure slightly behind her. _Just great._

She tried not to look his way as the strange couple treaded out of the park together, for she feared he'd see her blushing cheeks. _He's pretty cute for a hedgehog but that doesn't matter. Why am I so nervous? No guys have ever made me feel this way before._

"Say, I didn't catch your age," Damaris had a singular style of striking conversations, "I'm 17. I'll bet you're… 15?"

"Sixteen actually, but you were close," Maria glanced down, but it was a mistake. He winked up at her and her cheeks burned. "Um, did you say where you were from?"

"Nowhere." Voice dry, he cracked his knuckles loudly, "Don't got a place to call home."  
"Why not?"

"I just don't." The milky treble had left his voice and Maria decided it was best not to continue that line of conversation.

"What were you going to get to eat in town? I'm a little hungry as well. Perhaps I'll get something with you."

"Hey, that's a swell idea! You and me eating together! It's been ages since I last had someone to talk to-especially a girl! I can eat anything. Even dirt! Dudet, this will totally rock!"

_He sounds like Sonic… in a deranged way_… "I am sorry for tripping over you," Maria changed the subject, "Did I hurt you? If I hurt you, it's my responsibility to make sure you're looked after."

"Ahh…ah…" Damaris backed up a pace, "No, no go. I won't be looked after by a girl." He tried to conceal the large bruise on his leg rather sheepishly, and so rudely continued, with a touchy and irritated tone in his voice, "I've been on my own for a while and doin' quite fine, thank you very much. No little bruise or scrape is a good enough reason to put me in some smelly hen house with a bunch of clucking chickens who don't give you the privacy of day. Besides, what's up with girls and responsibility?"

"What! Clucking chickens? We don't cluck for your information! You are such a rude brat! It's no wonder you're on your own-no one WANTS you!" Maria was shocked that he'd ever insult her or other females so openly to her face. She couldn't believe how outrageously rude this hedgehog was. Tears streamed down her now beat-red, angry face. Fists clenched sourly, she grit, "I-I just…I… will… not eat lunch with the likes of YOU! Good BYE if you don't want me to help you! If you're going to insult me, you don't deserve help or love of any kind!" She turned to run off, but he grabbed her wrist.

"I see we both have the same problem…"

"You maybe? And let go of me!"

"No," There was no hint of the chipper, happy-go-lucky hedgehog she'd just met left in his downward countenance, "Rejection." He let his wrist slide but Maria couldn't run away from him anymore. He was obnoxious, rude, openly insulting, but alone and sad like her. Was it possible that he was telling her the truth and not lying? Her heart wondered how he could have possibly known that she had no one and no friends to talk to.

"How did you know that?"

"It's just something I see in people. I don't know what to tell you but you shouldn't stick around someone like me if you don't wanna." Damaris shifted his feet angrily. He always managed to blow it with people-especially girls-and the purple bruise on his leg was increasing in size, turning blue, and really starting to smart.

"I really should but I can't. Someone needs to help you with that bruise and since that's my fault, I guess it should be me."

"You're a nice person, ya' know that?"

"I used to think so, but I don't know what to think of myself anymore. C'mon, I'll take you to the doctor."

Damaris hated doctors. If there was anything he was afraid of, which were a blessed few things, it was doctors. Of course he wasn't about to reveal his fears to this strange girl-it was none of her business-but he wasn't about to go in without a fight. "No! I won't see a doctor! They're all uneducated hillbillies!"

"Since when? That's just plain absurd. Why not?"  
"Because…" Nothing came to mind, "Because!"

"Real logical. Really, what's wrong with doctors? They always manage to make my sicknesses go away."  
_I doubt that. They didn't fix your mental illnesses_. "They never do no good for me. That's why because."

Maria cocked her head impatiently, "I have things to do and I won't stand here and argue immaturely with you the rest of the afternoon. Either you go with me and I pay for your medical attention to make your leg feel better, or you can sit here and have a sore, aching leg for weeks without care or help. You're choice. I'm going home." Turning, she started walking down the path leisurely, half regretful and feeling guilty, but that hedgehog was nothing but a filthy-mouthed pest and if he didn't want her help that was just fine. Let him be stupid.

"Hey, don't go! Ok, ok, ok: I'll see a doc!" He wined, prolonging the word 'doc' into a long, tiresome string, "But you better not make a big deal out of it!"

"Fine with me. By the way, I didn't ask you what you're name was."

"Damaris."

"I've never heard that name before."

He smirked, "Ya, it's Greek. Means gentle." And laughed as if the definition was something hilarious. "It doesn't fit me I think."

"We'll just see as time goes by I guess." Maria kept her hands away from him so he wouldn't try to grab them. Damaris seemed eager to hold them. They walked side-by-side, but with a considerable gap of space between them, talking about small, meaningless things, as they headed out of the park and into the city. She didn't know what would come of them but she knew she was still angry with him for insulting her. He didn't seem to have or want a clue of what she thought or said. Everything that came out of his mouth was stupid, worthless, clueless, selfish, or rude. The words contrasted with his flowing, mediocre voice and she found herself having to look at his face to understand what he meant behind the words.

"I have tracked Host 767 to one of the smaller branch cities of Lumberopolis. According to the scans, he's somewhere in this facility."

"Good work, Unit 1," A tall, slender blond woman traced the circular region on the map with her gloved finger, "We should send in some soldiers to find him." She flicked her long, thick hair out of her face.

"Not without our supervision. Soldiers are clumsy and loud and will never get the job done if left alone." Unit 2 perched her hands on her hips, looking thoughtful, "I don't like hunting him down this way."

"I know how you are with him but your job comes first and he is, afterall, just one hedgehog."

"That GUN has spent millions on." Unit 2 calmly sipped her coffee, "Yes, you know how I am with him. I practically raised him from infancy and I don't like the way he's being treated."  
"But if the experiment works, you would have a real son, not just a hedgehog."

Unit 2 didn't want a real son. She didn't want Host 767 to be exposed to the evils of the final stage. Her heart had become involved and she had finally realized how wrong and horrible her occupation was. Unit 1, as her co-agent worker and close friend was called, and she had always worked together to track down runaway experiments or look after the toddlers and children who were waiting to be used for some inhumane way or another. Back then Unit 2 hadn't seen the tools used for dissecting internal organs; she hadn't heard the cries and screams of the innocent or witnessed the transformation or death of one of them. Now she had and it had been malicious and bloody. Her hands grew cold against the cup remembering that day with regret.

"What are you thinking of?" Unit 1's viperous voice interjected through her, "Never keep things from your partner."  
"I was considering the possible strategies of capture," She lied professionally, "Host 767," she spoke, hating the dubbed name of her adopted son, "Will be looking for places to hide."

"Obviously."

"And I know where he's liable to go since I'm the one who knows him the best."

"And those are?"

"Arcades, casinos, or carnivals."

"You're joking."

"No… Not at all." They stared blankly at each other for a few seconds, "He's a boy in more ways than one. Whenever I took him, it was always somewhere fun. Carnivals are his favorite places, casinos are goldmines, and the arcade is a hobby."

"If you say so. It surprises me that he didn't seek refuge in Casinopolis or Carnivalopolis then"

"It is strange… I have the arcades and other locations centered in by the blue dots on the map. You will take fifteen men and I will take fifteen men. Do not confront him without me, as I know that he'll jump away to safety with his Turbo Spring Shoes. If you find him, call me and I will come and confront him. There's no one else that can confuse him as I can since I am him guardian."

"That doesn't sound very logical but I trust you on this. I'll go gather the men and fetch you when I'm ready-if I locate him first that is."

"Alright."

Unit 1 strutted from the room, leaving a disturbed Unit 2 behind. _This is wrong_… Unit 2 groaned, _I can't go through with this. I can't betray Damaris_. But if she didn't bring him back, someone else would, Unit 1 no doubt, and she knew how brutal her partner was.

Unit 1 was a parasite; a flirtatious snake that lived to break men's hearts with her untouchable beauty and graceful form. It was all a deceptive show, a game of "look but don't touch", and one the woman loved to play. Unit 2 hadn't realized how heartless and evil her partner was until she let her own foster "child" die alone and frightened. She couldn't do this… But if she didn't, Damaris would fall into the hands of someone less lenient. If she didn't complete this herself, he would die.

_Where are you, Damaris? Where are you hiding? I want to find you and keep you safe but I feel trapped…_ What could she do? Unit 1 sat up late that night thinking over possible defective plans.


	3. Chapter Two: Mini Chase

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**: Yes, it's been a while but I wasn't feeling inspired to write this and now I was! Don't R&R if all you have to say is "this seems really rushed" because I'm not finished with it. This was a long chapter but my stories always are when I listen to True Vibe. Lol. R&R!

**NOTE**: Maria and Sonic the hedgehog do not belong to me-none of it does accept Damaris!

**CHAPTER TWO**: We Can Be Friends

_Feebe,_

_I still haven't gotten any of those long overdue visits from Shadow. I thought that three weeks would be long enough for him to find a few minutes to run over here to see me but he hasn't come. I don't know what's keeping him and I'm starting to become more and more depressed about it-though I'm trying not to. Last night I was looking at myself in the mirror and broke into tears thinking about him and all those times we spent on the ARK together all those years ago. I'm being selfish again. Back then it was he and I and no one else to ruin the bond we shared. We did everything together and now he's got someone else more important than me to love in a better way. I feel so trashed, like old junk, outdated and unimportant. I wish G.U.N. hadn't come and I could have stayed on ARK my whole life being with him. We'd still be together in the present, now that I think about it, if everything had gone on as it was supposed to. Perhaps I would have even taken my grandpa's position when he died. I'd be an old woman._

_But I can't think about him. I'll talk about someone new in my life. Damaris has been living with me for a week now. I guess he's ok. He still hasn't apologized about calling me a chicken last week and I think he's forgotten all about the rude comment. I will not let him see me angry about it though._

_It's the strangest thing. He has a mechanical system in his shoes called Turbo Springs that allows him to jump extremely high! I watched him run towards a building and jump all the way to the top with no problem-and it had ten stories! He claims that he can jump a lot higher but I think he's just bragging and it turns me off. I have no idea what to do with him. One minute he's happy and hyper and the next he's hesitant and afraid. What's up? Other times he's just plain annoying, ignoring what I say; but, yet, for some reason, I prefer spending more and more time with him everyday. I feel like I want to help him, watch him, keep him. Is this wrong? I don't think of him as a pet because I'm so much taller than him, for he's an intelligent creature. Why am I feeling attached in this way to a hedgehog? It's so pathetic…_

_Yes, you heard right, Feebe. I've formed feelings for the short guy. It hardly seems possible that I could have a crush on a hedgehog but something from my last life was reborn along with me. It allows me to see into a person's heart and understand their problems. I can see that something deep is wrong with Damaris. Something… sad and confused. Sort of like how Shadow felt aboard ARK. I will tell you that I don't just have a crush on Damaris, I have a major crush which means that I like him A LOT. What if I fall in love with him? I don't think he could ever feel the way I do because we're different races so there's no point of me telling him or starting anything. Whoever heard of a hedgehog and a human dating anyways?_

Perplexed, Maria locked her diary. Circumstances were against her and she knew that it was just a matter of time before her feelings eroded her resistance totally. The best route was to tell Damaris that since his leg was better, that he should leave now, but that was wrong. He had adapted to living with her and since he had confessed to having no home of his own, she felt as though tossing him out would be brutal-cruel-and she couldn't ever bring herself to dismiss him so worthlessly.

But this feeling-what was this? This was not supposed to happen-especially with someone so obnoxious! Maria slammed her bottom dresser drawer then slouched lazily down in her computer chair and started writing. Thought, those little thoughts, the dreams in her head, emotions, things flowing from her soul poured out onto the document before her and she couldn't stop. Who she was writing too-Shadow, Sonic, someone she didn't know-she didn't care, she just had to write from her soul.

I felt a tear upon my eyelid  
crying like some little kid  
What can I do to stop these tears,  
that pour out from all my fears?  
I feel as though I've lost you,  
and it's ripping me in two.  
For you're the only one I've ever had,  
but now your gone and I'm sad.  
More sad than I've ever been before,  
I don't know what's in store.  
How can I tell you that I'm falling for you,  
that I know this love is true?  
We're so different and I can't say  
how I love you-in which way.  
Now I'm crying harder than I was  
and you're the reason because…

Without critiquing her poem, Maria lunged into the next one with music blasting through her earphones. She was silently sobbing but denied any form of feeling for the hedgehog as she wrote:

People just don't understand how I am  
People don't bother to ask for my name  
But I don't need those pesky people  
Who never change-they stay the same  
It makes me sick that I'm misunderstood  
Ijust want someone to see the true me  
But no one cares enough to take the time  
And no one thinks that I can be  
Anything  
Or everything  
They ignore me wherever I go  
I am the shadow in the halls  
That "someone" no one knows  
The dust clinging to the vacant walls  
Not even my mother seems to know  
The me that hides and slips on through  
So I don't bother to make the effort  
To tell anyone the reason why I know I can do  
Anything  
Or everything

"What are you writing?"

"Oh! Nothing!" Maria closed the program, "It was nothing. Why? What did you see-how long have you been standing there?"

"Not long. I came in to ask if you'd wanna go to the arcade or the casino but I saw you crying and I sorta…well…it was just…I thought it…"

"Sure I'll go do something with you. How about the arcade? I'm not really a gambler."

He shifted the cuffs on his left arm at her change in character, but shrugged mentally, "Alright! Let's go have some fun! You got money, right? I wanna play tons of games!"

"It's all about you all the time, isn't it?"

"Where'd you get that stupid idea? C'mon, let's go!" Out the door he dashed, not nearly as fast as Sonic for jumping was his specialty, speed his long neglected skill, and Maria raced down the stairs after him. Damaris gulped down the endless gallons of fresh summer air and exclaimed carelessly, "You look cool in those shorts!"

Maria blushed crimson which added to the buttery blondness of her soft hair and Damaris turned away smirking devilishly. She was a girl for a gut to aspire to, a special emerald in the dust, the rare gem to be won and he, surprising himself, found himself envying the male who won her affection. No one deserved her and anyone who hurt her would live to regret it, he vowed mentally, again to his astonishment at his protective condition for her.

But she could never love him the way he knew he was falling for her if she knew his background. He could seriously endanger her and his enemies could even hurt her to get to him. It couldn't be risked. If he could hold his emotions from growing, then parting wouldn't be as hard for the both of them, he reasoned. The parting was a certainty for it was only a matter of time before his location was sealed.

Damaris' thoughts wound back to images and visions of his parents: voices, lullabies, hums-little tidbits he had retained through the bitter pain and morbid circumstances he had lived through. They hadn't been able to steal those few memories that were rightfully his. If there had ever been anything he could call his own, something no one else could steal, his memories qualified. They had stole his identity, quelled his voice from crying out, destroyed, or at least tried to, the hope of freedom. Sliding his hand into Maria's, Damaris promised himself that it wouldn't happen again. They could lock him away, stick wires through his spine, cut him to pieces, but he wouldn't allow his will of freedom to be extinguished as it almost had been before.

She had been the only friend before Maria that Damaris ever had: Zoe. Plain Zoe, never a last name, never an age, never any private information. Like a mother, he recalled, affectionately, how she held him, warmed him on the cold days, dried his tears, sang comfort hymns to him; she told him everything would be alright, that she was always someone he could trust and that her love for him was of the strongest, firmest type. Nothing would separate them. Even though her voice wasn't that of his birth mother, Zoe was the only mother had remembered and his eyes watered from her betrayal. Unit 1 was her official agent title. She and Unit 1 were tracking him as the pair walked, he knew, but there was some little time left before he would be forced to flee this pretty, simple life with Maria.

"Something wrong, Damaris?"

"No," Damaris smiled weakly up into her blue tear-drop eyes, "I was just thinking about some stuff about me. Nothing serious or anything."

"I hope not. It looked like you were getting pretty engrossed whatever it was. A fond memory perhaps?" Maria wished she didn't have to play these little games with him but she felt that any confrontations could leave some damage to him so tried not to mention the sparkle near his eye the moment before. He spoke not so she entreated not.

Unit 1 knew Host 767 was in this faction of the city, covering 200 blocks of buildings. She sighed at the thought of sending her soldiers through the buildings. Unit 2 hadn't been able to provide more accurate scanning devices, being the electrical supplier of the pair, and she herself hadn't even thought of having a tracker sown inside Host 767's skin. She blamed herself for that one, yet praised the compassion she had felt for the sad little lab experiment then.

"Unit 2, any progress?"

"Negative, Unit 1. Host 767 is closer to your area than mine anyways. We'll be here for a few more days at least."

"Why hadn't you purchased trackers when you had all that time?"

"No time for any of that, sister," Unit 2's glassy voice hissed, "Be professional. Your personal emotions cannot become a negative factor with this mission! GUN is counting on us and if we let them down…"

"Understood. Unit 1 out."

_If we let them down. I don't care. I'd rather die than turn Damaris in_… Unit 1 glared at the blocks yet to be covered. This job got worse everyday.

"Damaris, we've been here for three hours."

"Really? It doesn't seem that long. Are you sure?"

Maria checked her watch again: 5:41 PM. "Yes, positive. You've spent almost all of my money and all of your current tokens. I need to do my homework and Mom's already going to be fuming that I went out and didn't tell her where."

"Ok, gimme the rest of your money so I can get some more tokens." He was totally ignoring her words, only centering in on his own selfish desires.

"Damaris!"

"Huh?" He paused in the center of the bustling arcade, eyes half closed, dumb expression on his adorable face, "You bellowed?"

"I-you-this!" She dug her nails into his arm, "YOU are going to come with ME home this minute. For once, think about something other than yourself! I'm sick of your issues with YOU! It's my money, get it? And to think I'm starting to develop feelings for you!" She gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth, backing away from the shocked hedgehog.

"What was that?" Damaris was rubbing his sore arm, "You…you like me?"

"Yes-no! I mean… I mean… Oh! I can't do this!" She ran from the arcade fearing what could be passing through his mind. How he must think her nothing but an immature, stupid girl to like him-a hedgehog! They were both so different-in more than body-and could never work out for each other! Damaris never apologized for rude comments, never considered other people, leeched off of anyone kind enough to assist him, and acted as though everything was always alright when it wasn't! She should hate him.

**-TOBY MAC: ATMOSPHERE (Remix)-**

Damaris's arm lunged for her but his legs stuck to the floor stubbornly. He watched her form disappear behind the wall and shook his head sadly. One week of being with her and he wasn't the only one who had smelled some of her scents. By the time his legs cooperated, Damaris found that Maria was no where in sight and the only place he could go was back to her house.

Maple trees rustled from the hot winds blowing. His quills shifted calmly. Turning toward the parking lot, Damaris froze. G.U.N. soldiers were advancing towards his direction-how did they find him so quickly-what was he going to do? Unit 2 was nowhere in sight which worried him greater. He dashed down the sidewalk. A dart scraped his leg, missing by millimeters. Damaris skidded around a corner, rushing through a slender, black alley in desperation. The shouts of the G.U.N. soldiers were closing in! Why hadn't he been gifted with speed instead of jumping? Wait: jumping!

"You won't get me this time!" He spat on the ground, springing high up into the air as the soldiers clustered below, shooting their guns up after him, but Damaris was too fast and backed from the edge of roof of a twenty story tall building a minute later. His breath wavered though short hiccups, but he was safe for the moment.

"Man, I didn't think I could make that jump. I guess I can… or I'd be down there and blacked out and not up here and safe for the moment."

"Are you truly safe up here?"

"Who's there?" He sped around, "Z-Zoe!" It was her: the woman he'd been with almost his whole life. The one he had trusted; the one he loved. Seeing her again sent chills down his spine and tender memories spinning in his head but he couldn't be deceived by her any longer. She was working for those who wanted him locked away in some dark, empty cell. "How'd you get up here-there's no way nobody coulda' known I'd come up here!"

"Ah, but I know you." She didn't seem angry just sad and hesitant.

"Course you do." He turned away from the female to glance down the side. The G.U.N. soldiers were gone. He started panicking. They must be coming up to the roof at the moment!

"Damaris," Unit 1 coxed, "They'll find you one way or the other. If you come with me now, it would really make my job easier and it would ensure you're safety. Unit 2 is ruthless and if she gets her pincers on you, the future would be grim." Was that true care in her voice or a ploy to get him where she wanted?

"My future is always grim anyways. With you or with her-you're both the same and you lied! You said I could trust you! You said you loved me! It was all a show." The words sliced her emotionally to pieces. It stung to see her Damaris so spiteful but he had legitimate reason to despise her and Unit 1 knew she deserved it. She had betrayed him, turned her back, destroyed their bond.

"Damaris, I do love you."

"Pah!" The hedgehog's eyes narrowed suspiciously, "You want me to come back with you voluntarily? I won't do that! You're insane if you think otherwise!"

"Don't go, Damaris! Give me a chance-hear me out!" But her words flew with the wind, her eyes burning sadly for her son as she watched him spring across to the next roof, run across the surface, and jump to the next roof, then the next, and the next, till his fading form completely disappeared from her sight. Seconds tardy, G.U.N. soldiers filed through the stairwell door, but she only shook her head.

"Report." Unit 2 cackled through the walkie-talkie, "What have you found?"

"Host 767 was located by chance at the Metropolis Shopping Center, but he got away."

"I can't believe this! What sort of agent are you to allow that stupid, weak lab rat get away? Your emotions became involved and you let him slip away! You're unreliable, Unit 1!" The younger agent erupted through the receptor, but Unit 1 clicked it off with tears held back in her chocolate eyes. The sun was setting and the sky was a bland blue and green.

Damaris hid himself until the moon was halfway across the sky and the stars had multiplied to uncountable numbers. The wind was a wild wine against his fur. It was time to return "home", as he found himself referring to Maria's bedroom. Yes, he knew it was safe, that the G.U.N. agents wouldn't find him for a few more days because of today's close incident, and so he could enjoy a week or so of carefree fun.

"Maria, why do you haunt me like this?" He sprang upward into a tree and lunged to the top of a house, "You're right about me: I am selfish and immature. I only think about myself and I ignore other people's needs. This is wrong, how can I make it right? If only I could say this to you but I just can't… I'm a coward." A few more jumps from house to house and he landed on the roof beside Maria's window. The lights were off but the window was open; good. Damaris propped the screen, sliding through the square gap, but when he tried to put the screen back, it clacked loudly. Scowling, he shoved it crookedly through the window. The slick metal frame slid from his fingers and the whole screen toppled through the trees and into the darkness.

"Great…" He whispered aloud in the darkness.

"Damaris? What did you just do?"

"Uh, ah!" He looked left and right, "The door was locked so I came in through the window."

"And busted my screen. I saw it I just wanted to see if you were going to lie to me again."

"I don't lie that much…" He wishy-washily shuffled over to the side of her bed, looking at his shoes, "Do I?"

"Yes. You do."

"Hey, Maria, can you please drop it for now? Some stuff happened while I was gone that I don't wanna talk about. Please?" He couldn't tell who was more embarrassed: Maria for her accidental spurt of emotion that afternoon or himself for having not returned to the house? When Maria didn't bring it up or pursue the current subject, he relaxed a little.

"Come sit on the bed with me, Damaris."

"Are…are you going to hurt me?"

"No," her voice was soft," I just want to tell you something. It's nothing bad."

"Ok," Damaris unbuckled his shoes and kicked them a foot away then hopped up on the bed, but across from her. "What?" Silk hands wrapped around him, pulling him towards Maria till she was right in front of him. He could see her pretty well in the darkness and it was apparent that she could see him as well.

"Who's your mother?"

"What's this about? I don't understand." She was angry, he decided, but what was she doing by asking him this? Damaris didn't have a mother, at least not for the past fourteen years of his life-not someone he could truly call a mother anymore.

"Shh! That's why we talk, so we can confide in each other. This conversation may not start out making any sense, but that's only because more information needs to be exchanged. Damaris, don't you ever look at yourself in the mirror and wish you were someone else?"

"Yes… I do…" His hand reached back over hers and there followed a moment of silent astonishment on both sides for his actions. "And no, I do not have a mother. I haven't for a long time. No father either. No family."

"Oh, Damaris, I'm so sorry."

"Don't be sorry for me. I've been without them for so long that it's natural to be on my own these days." Flim caused his voice to sound raspy. "What do these questions lead to?"

"Nowhere I guess. Sha-I mean I used to stand by a large window years ago with my closest friend and talk about frivolous things as these. It helps to relax one's mental condition I guess." Somehow the cute chuckles coming from her throat didn't convince Damaris that Maria took this topic lightly. He longed to learn who was with her but felt he couldn't ever be able to ask.

"What was it like with that friend? What was your life like?"

"Simple I should say. Routine. It was calm and bittersweet. Nothing really like it is now."

_I wish my life were like that_. "Maria?"

"Oh, Damaris…" Maria's voice crackled and he knew she was crying. Those silent, repressed tears could hold themselves no longer and he hadn't even realized it. Everything she did was refined, completed with at much dignity possibly mustered. Some things just weren't meant to remain unknown and overlooked and Damaris's heart clenched sadly hearing her sniffles and gasps.

"Don't, don't cry, Maria. Whatever I did, I'm sorry."

"There's so many things you've done that hurt me. Little, stupid things that I know you didn't have any clue about. You-" Another interrupting sob-"You didn't mean to hurt me so but you did and I couldn't bring it up again. We're not supposed to hold grudges against other people-or hedgehogs-or anyone and I'm not mad at you. But this is not why I'm crying."

"Why are you crying then?"

Damaris was propped up on his knees on the bed, Maria drooping slightly as she sat on the bed, with his hand outlined against hers. Their fingers were cracked apart. He let his large hand slide through her fingers and close securely around her smaller one. He stared into her emerald-blue eyes; they stared back. Something inside those eyes compelled him to lean forward.

**-ZOEGIRL: Love Me For Me-**

She watched him shift upward to match her height and lean closer. Maria's hand was warmed within his engulfing palm and it felt so right to have him here to protect her. And he was going to… he was coming…

Just when their mouths were centimeters apart, Maria's eyes opened and she withdrew in partial horror. "No, I can't." Was her strained reply, "We can't."

"Why? Is it because I'm not good enough for you? Why? Is it because there's someone else or is it because perhaps I'm not normal?"

"No, Damaris, it's none of those."

Erupting with tears of anger, Damaris jumped from the bed, "Is it because I'm not human? Is THAT it?" No response and he knew that was the true reason. They were too different. He had dared to love her and she acknowledged feelings in return but the barriers of species kept them apart! "This-this isn't right! Just cuzz I'm a hedgehog and you're a human doesn't mean we can't love each other! And you know what? I DO love you so there! You can't do nothing to stop my feelings for you and if there's anyone to blame for my feelings, it's you for even bothering to help me! All this could have been avoided. I was just someone on the streets last week until you came along and tripped over me!"

"Please stop!"

No one could make him stop. Damaris was burning up with hopeless anger. The leather straps on his quills shone in the moonlight; his form was outlined against the curtains and it was backing away slowly. "You cared enough to feel concern for me." His voice was hushed, "And that was your first mistake. Then you found yourself being sucked into this void where love can never be returned. I've never had anyone to love me the way I feel right now and I just-just-just-I don't know what I need anymore! No one's ever cared what I need and I guess I don't know anymore either!"

"What are you talking about? Tell me what's wrong."

"Maria, I can see you for who you are and I know you can't be that thick-headed not to know what's wrong. They're coming for me. They're coming and perhaps it's best I let them have me this time. Maybe I can find a way through that to make you accept me. Search your heart. The body is just a shell to who we truly are. Who am I; who are you?"

"Come back, Damaris! Please come back!"

Damaris bounded from the screen less window out onto the grass below and bolted into the black night, leaving Maria sobbing heavily into her pillows. This was her fault. Something was wrong with Damaris besides a broken heart and she had to find out what was going on and where he was going. Who was after him?


End file.
